Muslim Mamas tribe - Page 75

[AutumnSunshine]

as-salaamu `alaykum all,

Well I have been buying new clothes this winter for the first time in a quite a few years so I have fashion on the brain.

I am tired of wearing a jilbab and then having to wear a winter coat over it. I hate how it looks and feels. I've been living in the South for so long that I have been able to get away with not wearing a coat at all most winters but in a few months IA we're moving back up north . So I'm thinking about splurging on this:

http://www.llbean.com/webapp/wcs/sto...tn&cat4=504728

It's got a zip-out wool liner and it is ankle length and looks just like the jilbabs called "trench coats" in Syria which I have been wearing lately. I'm quite partial to the red one but then I could only wear a black scarf with it. If I got the khaki colored one I could wear more scarves with it, but it wouldn't be as fun IMO as having a cool red jilbab. I've been wearing black and khaki ones forever!

It is NOT cheap but hey, it's LL Bean which means if the zipper breaks in 10 or even 20 years they will either fix it or give me a new one.

Anybody else tried anything like this? I mean, substituting a really good, long winter coat for jilbabs?

wa s-salaam

[kangamitroo]

ladies, do you have a favorite online bookseller for Islamic books? (reliable, good selection, reasonable shipping etc.) i am looking to get al-Ghazali's Inner Dimensions of Islamic Worship & Hamza Yusuf's Purification of the Heart.

thanks!

[Liquesce]

I usually find the one I keep linking you to (IslamicBookstore.com) has the best prices and selection, and I've never had a problem with an order I've placed with them. I'm pretty sure Purification of the Heart is out of print though, so it might be hard to find a genuinely good price on it pretty much anywhere.

[kangamitroo]

a thoughtful reflection on wearing abaya that i enjoyed
(altmuslimah, 25 sept, in case you've already read it)

[kangamitroo]

Originally Posted by Liquesce

I usually find the one I keep linking you to (IslamicBookstore.com) has the best prices and selection, and I've never had a problem with an order I've placed with them.

makes sense. you probably would not be linking to an overpriced, unreliable shop—without supplying a caveat. thanks again.

[Liquesce]

As-salamu 'alaikom~

Did any of you ever notice that Al Hannah sells Fair and Lovely products? Nothing against whoever the proprietress might be, but I was a little bit taken aback when I saw that ... I realize it's a little hypocritical since it's Unilever, everything is Unilever, and I'm sure there are things in my own home from them, but I'm just really uncomfortable purchasing from a company that would directly promote that product line.

[umsami]

Originally Posted by Liquesce

As-salamu 'alaikom~

Did any of you ever notice that Al Hannah sells Fair and Lovely products? Nothing against whoever the proprietress might be, but I was a little bit taken aback when I saw that ... I realize it's a little hypocritical since it's Unilever, everything is Unilever, and I'm sure there are things in my own home from them, but I'm just really uncomfortable purchasing from a company that would directly promote that product line.

Wa'alaikum Assalam:

I didn't notice that, but I was shocked to find out how popular that product is in Egypt and India. I agree, it is disturbing.

[kangamitroo]

has anyone tried the distance learning courses of Zaytuna Institute? several look very promising. i am particularly interested in this and this.

i would like a study group irl but it is hard to coordinate. i have now met several muslimahs who are helping me learn, but with babies and jobs, a mutual time to meet is not easy to come by,

[Summertime Mommy]

Does anyone know of a good self-study arabic course? I need to learn a decent amount fairly quickly. I am trying to self study and get into the second part of a beginning arabic course at my uni this fall. Any ideas of where to start? My school has rosetta stone, but I think it would be helpful to learn to write and read before learning to speak.

[AutumnSunshine]

Originally Posted by Summertime Mommy

Does anyone know of a good self-study arabic course? I need to learn a decent amount fairly quickly. I am trying to self study and get into the second part of a beginning arabic course at my uni this fall. Any ideas of where to start? My school has rosetta stone, but I think it would be helpful to learn to write and read before learning to speak.

Find out what textbook they use and get it. By write and read do you just mean the script or are you talking about grammar and vocabulary? Is there any special reason why you want to get into second semester without taking first semester?

Actually, learning to speak (and listen) should occur at the same time as learning to read and write from a linguistic standpoint.

[Liquesce]

Rosetta Stone covers reading alongside speaking, fwiw. And I do agree with UmmZaynab ... learning to read without learning to speak concurrently is a recipe for headaches.

[Summertime Mommy]

Thanks! I a religion major and my focus is in Islamic studies. I graduate in the summer and have not been able to squeeze arabic into my schedule, and only the second section of arabic is offered this spring, so if I dont want to take section one over the summer, I have to do some independant study and try to test into it. (Ideally I would like to be able to take sections 3 and 4 this summer.)

I was worried that rosetta stone may do transliterations and not actual arabic script, do they actually have the arabic written out?

I guess what I meant by reading first, is that I would like to have an understanding of script and structure of the language before trying to really learn to speak and understand the language, I think "read" may have been the wrong word.

[Liquesce]

Mine is a little bit of an older version, but it doesn't have transliteration at all ... I'm guessing that hasn't changed. The idea is a kind of a mock immersion.

[AutumnSunshine]

Another option is Tell Me More Arabic.

However, no computer program will help you enough if you do not have the particular text book they are using. You have to study out of whatever program they use in your university because they will test you on whatever they covered in the first semester and the curriculum will continue into the second semester assuming that you learned that stuff. That may not match what is in the computer program.

If you have more questions, or can tell me what university you're attending, you can PM me. Most universities use the Al-Kitaab series (with the letter book that comes before it) but some universities have intensive first-year Arabic and some don't. So your university may spend anywhere from 1 week to almost the whole first semester on the letters and sounds book. There are a few other curricula out there (EMSA, and the Mahdi Alosh book the title of which I can't remember at the moment) but most use Al-Kitaab. Actually, if you're at a uni with a really bad Arabic program you may go overboard with a computer program.

You would need to know how many lessons they finish in the first semester and then study up until that point.

[Summertime Mommy]

They do use al-Kitab and I am orderring that, I will have to check out the "tell me more" program. I am at UF btw. The head of the arabic language dept is my instructor right now for a course on arabic culture and I spoke to him briefly about it, I think he thought I was crazy, but he basically told me that he administers a written test and then normally wants to have a brief conversation afterward. I am normally pretty good with languages but arabic scares me. But insha'allah, I'll figure it out.

[vegk8]

The Mahdi Alosh book is called Ahlan wa Sahlan. I have used both that book and Al Kitaab. I think that for independant study, Al Kitaab would be much better as there is a lot of accompanying media. The cd's for Ahlan wa Sahlan are really lacking.

There is also www.arabacademy.com. It's an online software. It's pretty good, but I bet the placement is based on the text used at your Uni, so using that book would be best.

[SarahsMom08]

Salamualaikum,
Are there any muslim moms in lancaster/chester county area? I would love to set up a playdate.
Sorry if this is off-topic.
Leila

[kangamitroo]

Originally Posted by SarahsMom08

Salamualaikum,
Are there any muslim moms in lancaster/chester county area? I would love to set up a playdate.
Sorry if this is off-topic.
Leila

welcome, Leila! not at all off topic. I am a bit far north of you, closer to Allentown (and very new to Islam). Inshallah you soon will find someone close by.

a big thank you to liquesce for recommending Ingrid Mattson's The Story of the Qur'an. It took a while because my library got it from outside the county, but it was well worth the wait. so well-written and I learned a lot (especially the later chapters, on the science of interpreting and the challenges of recording both Qur'an and hadith). I 'd like the masjid to have a copy in the small library so it is more accessible.

[umsami]

So, I just saw a Gap ad and they mention every holiday you can imagine... Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Solstice...but no Eid. Can we please please please get a Happy Eid from somebody?? Is that asking too much? Argh.

[umsami]

Great Website!!!

Assalamu Alaikum Sisters:

Well, I was looking for Eid gifts and found this great website... http://muslimtoysanddolls.com/

They have these cute Muslim dolls from Indonesia called Arrosa (as well as FUlla), electronic toys, small hijabs and mother/daughter hijabs, and these adorable prayer rugs.

I'm so happy to find it. I ordered my daugher a prayer rug...and a Muslim toy called "My Mosque" which teaches the prayers. Looks very cute.

Happy Almost Eid everybody.